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Secret Service agent says he was ‘railroaded’ in prostitution scandal

"The primary reason for me talking to you here today is to make it clear that we have been denied due process," Stokes told CBS News in an interview broadcast Thursday. "We were supposed to have had a three-person final adjudication by the Department of Homeland Security. That proceeding has been delayed. In my opinion and the — in the opinion of other agents in this situation, they are trying to starve us out."

The 20-year veteran blamed former Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan for his treatment.

"I was surprised to the extent to which Sullivan's director's office would go to railroad us," Stokes said.

Stokes admitted he and 10 other agents invited prostitutes to their rooms in a Cartagena hotel ahead of President Obama's trip to the Summit of the Americas. He said he is "truly sorry" for doing something that did not meet "the expectations of the American people," but that he "absolutely" told the truth and that national security was never at risk.

"For anybody to think that the Secret Service, as an agency, has more or less of a problem with that behavior than any other agency with top secret security clearances, they'd be wrong," Stokes said.

And Stokes did admit that "knowing what we know now," the agents would not have solicited prostitutes.

"Of course not," he said. "The first rule of the Secret Service is do no harm."

But, Stokes said, he is upset that he and five other agents remain suspended indefinitely without pay and with their security clearances revoked. Three others have been returned to duty, and two resigned from the agency.

Stokes also accused the Department of Homeland Security inspector general of "whitewashing" a report about the incident to omit mention of a Secret Service executive and a White House volunteer who was the son of a lobbyist. Stokes says both men had prostitutes at the hotel where President Obama planned to stay.

"It was a complete whitewash of and omission of facts that I know were conveyed to the Department of Homeland Security — not just by myself but by many other senior executives at the Secret Service," Stokes said.

The Secret Service agent said he now wants Congress to investigate what happened in Colombia.

"At this point — first and foremost, I'd like to see due process achieved for myself and the other Secret Service employees who have been railroaded in this matter. Secondly, I sincerely hope that Congress opens up a separate, full and independent investigation of all these facts, so that the American public has the answers that they deserve," Stokes said.

In October, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) sent a memo to the Department of Homeland Security questioning the inspector general's report on the incident.

"There are discrepancies between public statements and information uncovered in the independent investigation led by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General that suggest the administration misled or withheld information from Congress," Johnson said in a memo obtained by Reuters.